


Layered

by insertfruitpun



Series: Valentine's Day fics [4]
Category: The Witchlands Series - Susan Dennard
Genre: Bets, F/M, Snow, falling, idk anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29334978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertfruitpun/pseuds/insertfruitpun
Summary: Leopold is a horrid gift giver. Safi and Caden live their lives out of spite.
Relationships: Caden Fitz Grieg/Safiya fon Hasstrel
Series: Valentine's Day fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149077
Comments: 6
Kudos: 3





	Layered

As if the cold mountain air was not enough, Safi had to deal with a very smug Caden as well. In other words, hell was a cold, cold place with no fires. “Just give up already.”

“Why would I do that?” Safi fought to keep her breath even. She would not give Caden the satisfaction of admitting he was right. Lev and Zander stayed behind, and Safi probably would have too if she hadn’t had a point to prove. Even if she didn't necessarily believe in the point herself.

Caden was definitely right. The dress Leopold bought her was awful. It was hard to move in, and, despite its many layers, did absolutely nothing to keep out the cold. It was ridiculously long and not at all practical, but it was a gift and it was hers now. Caden couldn’t talk about things that were hers like that.

“You’re going to fall,” Caden said, “just admit that the dress is awful and get it over with.” Safi would rather die. She said as much, which just made Caden laugh. They had been walking for a while, but only on the paths that were frequently walked through. As a kid, Safi would always stray from them. Now, though, she couldn’t. Because Caden was right. But that didn’t mean she would admit it.

“I’m not going to fall.” Safi almost tripped over herself as she said it. The layers made the dress stiffer than any other she ever wore, which meant she couldn’t move around too much. And that meant that she couldn’t warm herself up at all. 

The worst part was that she couldn’t convince Caden to go back. They made a bet before leaving for the mountains, and Caden was hell bent on winning. Hell, he already seemed to consider himself the winner. Smug prick. She’d show him.

If Caden won the bet, she would have to go to dinner with him. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, all things considered. But Safi wasn’t the kind of person who lost bets. And especially not against Caden. If Safi won, he would let Lev and Zander tell her all the embarrassing stories they were keeping secret. Safi knew there had to be something - Iseult knew enough things about her to ruin her life. But Zander and Lev were stupidly loyal, and Safi doubted she could get them to tell her without Caden saying it was all right. 

Plus, Lev and Zander knew about the bet. Safi supposed she could get Zander to crack if she was careful, but it was Lev that was the problem. She shared Caden’s views on the dress, and would be absolutely thrilled to find out Safi had failed. And she simply couldn’t have that. 

The higher up the mountain they went, the colder Safi got. She didn’t complain, and the dress covered any and all signs of shaking there were. Not being able to complain about the cold was far, far worse than actually being cold. Safi didn’t know what to do with her hands. Even though the dress was layered, the sleeves were short, and only reached up to her elbow. 

Safi didn’t know what she did to anger Leopold enough to do that to her. Hell, this wasn’t even a matter of angering Leopold. It was a sort of higher damnation. Maybe she should have taken Merik’s comments about heresy seriously.

But whether it was a punishment from the gods or just a tasteless gift, Safi wasn’t going to let one stupid dress stop her. She went off the path, towards a steeper end. 

Caden immediately started smiling, the smugness even more prominent than before. There was no way to climb the steep end without falling, even for people who weren’t wearing world’s worst fashion creation. Leopold needed to consult someone the next time he bought people gifts.

If Safi wasn’t wearing the dress, maybe she wouldn’t have ended up on her back in the snow. But as things were, she did, and snow got into the damn dress, making it colder than it had already been. And it was _cold._

Caden was weirdly nice about it. He seemed concerned about it at first, and helped her up. But when they made it back to civilization, Caden took back his cloak (Safi had insisted she didn’t need one) and smiled triumphantly. “Does Friday work for you, then?”


End file.
